Their hands stained by the indigo dye in their new clothes, Tuareg women celebrate a birth. Tuareg females rarely cover their faces, while men traditionally wear turbans that conceal all but their eyes.

Tuareg fighters survey a battle-scarred Tuareg school in northern Niger. In recent years Tuareg in Niger and Mali have rebelled, claiming their governments collect taxes but invest little in their impoverished regions.

Soon after dawn, Tuareg rebels from the Movement of Nigeriens for Justice take up positions during a training exercise near their base in the Aïr Massif. The Tuareg have fought two rebellions against the Niger government, the most recent related to uranium mined on their traditional lands.

The camel caravans that once linked Saharan trading hubs are rapidly disappearing as trucks take over. Tuareg en route to Timbuktu with salt slabs from Taodeni (above) worry about the tradition's future. "Our sons have no interest," they say.

A caravanner of mixed Tuareg and Arab descent leads his camels in Mali. His Tuareg uncles taught him which plants can cure—or kill—his animals and how to navigate by the color, texture, and taste of sand.

Tuareg women gather around bowls of macaroni for a child's naming ceremony. Older female relatives of the mother discuss three possible names, assigning each name to a straw. The mother then draws one of the straws, determining the child's name.

Tuareg rebels encounter one of their nomadic kinsmen. They give him tea and sugar and ask what he has seen. "To know what is happening here," the rebel leader says, "you must find a Tuareg. We are the eyes of this desert."